I liked this week’s virtual session on “Internet Communication” very much. It gave a lot of interesting suggestions for using Internet communication in-class.

First, I have to mention that I was a little bit shocked when looking at the list with the Internet specific abbreviations. Who is that crazy to invent them? Who knows them all and uses them? I think a dictionary is needed for the huge number of abbreviations… But maybe it is funny to have a try on using them, just FYA (for your amusement) or is it NAGI (not a good idea)???

IMOH (In my honest opinion), I have never thought about different types of communication before. Therefore the part on synchronous and asynchronous communication was interesting and I think teachers should use it more in school. It might be exciting for students to write e-mails to experts or even to chat with them. BOC (But of course), it is not always easy to communicate with experts, as they mostly seem to be very busy 24/7 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) lacking time for chats with pupils. Another point I regard as critical to do in-class, are the live chats with other classes abroad. I think it is rarely possible that two classes in two different countries meet at the same time, although the idea is nice. But why not being in contact with pupils abroad via e-mail? This offers a lot of advantages: practicing a foreign language, making new friends, learning how to express oneself in written language. AISI (As I see it), asynchronous communication (e-mails, forums, NGs (newsgroups)) is a lot easier to practice in school than synchronous communication (chats, MOOs, video-conferencing). Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to use these types of communication L8R (later) as a teacher.

Furthermore, I liked the idea about having virtual office hours. Why do we not have that at university? IDD (InDeeD), it would make a student’s life much easier… Maybe professors should take this suggestion into consideration.

But I am not quite sure about the use of MOOs in school. AFAIUI (As far as I understood it), this kind of interactive role-playing game is good for learning how to construct new objects and how to perform group communication. But I think pupils could misuse it and do not see the educational purposes behind it. Is it communication to give a virtual character a command about what to say? What are these conversations about? I do not think that pupils behave seriously when they are part of a virtual world. KWIM (Know what I mean)? Maybe I am the only one who does not have that much trust in today’s pupils… BICBW (But I could be wrong)…

I think TAFN (that’s all for now) and hopefully you understood that I regard these abbreviations as BS (bull shit), SFT (sorry for that), B/C (because) they only confuse the readers and nobody understands what you really want to say. Is our generation becoming that lazy that it is too time consuming to write because instead of B/C?

ATB (all the best), GBH&K (great big hugs & kisses) and HAND (Have a nice day)

Lorena